now theres one example why i take and maintain the lane when theres cars parked on the shoulder.

(even if the drivers behind me are super pissed).

i'd rather someone blare their horn at me then take my chances with weaving in and out of traffic and between parked cars.

i know theres a lot of people who can't fathom why cyclists just don't move over as soon as theres a small gap between parked cars...
well, its because we don't feel like dying.

now if only we could stop the zillions of people who DO weave between traffic and park cars from doing so, then drivers might not EXPECT all cyclists to do the same thing.

when situations like this occur, taking and maintaining your lane should be the norm.... if you don't want to, get on the sidewalk.
weaving around really isn't safe for anyone.

Attornatus_Oregonensis

12-22-2006, 08:00 AM

Ben is absolutely right. Staying in your lane is the only safe practice. I always stay out and encourage others to do the same. And -- as with every other aspect of cyclists being on the road LEGALLY -- drivers will just have to deal with it.

As an aside, I just want to rant for a moment: The level of impatience shown by motor vehicle drivers is unbelievable. Every day I walk around downtown Portland, I wait for the light and then stop out into the crosswalk as soon as it changes. About half of the time there is someone who has either failed to recognize that the light has turned red or just doesn't care and thinks pedestrians should just get out of his/her way. They go flying through the intersection after the light changes and endanger everybody's life just to save 30 seconds.

I walk through my neighborhood and people are going 35, 40 MPH on quiet residential streets. People will turn inches behind or in front of you while you're crossing; it scares my poor dog to death. In the rare instances I do use my car, I end up sitting still for minutes at a time because there are so many cars on the road. People bust out of stopped lanes and go up the line, then jump in front of you, forcing you to slam on your brakes. People drive far too close to each other.

Civility is fucking gone in this country. The automobile is out of control; it kills thousands of us each year. The police can do little, if anything, to stop it. Even if they could, they're too worried about making up crimes to punish people they "hate."

Somebody recently posted that the "majority" has no sympathy for our Critical Mass "protest." Well, the feeling is starting to become mutual.

Val

12-22-2006, 08:34 AM

AO: Agreed, absolutely. The most common time that I get horns blaring at me is when I am preventing drivers from going 50 in a 35 zone. We can only hope that sometime soon the "majority" will consist of people who are sick of this sort of thing. See http://www.wormworks.com/roadwitch/index.html for some guerrilla action against this trend.

ben

12-22-2006, 09:32 AM

As an aside, I just want to rant for a moment: The level of impatience shown by motor vehicle drivers is unbelievable. Every day I walk around downtown Portland, I wait for the light and then stop out into the crosswalk as soon as it changes. About half of the time there is someone who has either failed to recognize that the light has turned red or just doesn't care and thinks pedestrians should just get out of his/her way. They go flying through the intersection after the light changes and endanger everybody's life just to save 30 seconds.

today is my last day of work (i announced my resignation about a month ago).
out of many things that i WON'T miss about my job, this one is pretty high on the list:

trying not to be murdered when using the crosswalk signal on the 205 bike path to get across NE Glisan.

about 80% of the time someone almost plows into me trying to take a right on red (usually at high speeds). too many people super pissed about sitting in the 205 rat race every day of their lives.
even when they see me 2/3's of the way through the crosswalk, they still gun it.
i know some people don't like my light on top of my helmet, but it has saved my butt quite a few times....in conjunction with my totally hick-style ear piercing whistle. :)
but even then, i always have to be ready to slam on my breaks.
rarely do i see a driver that readily acknowledges those cross-signals...probably because hardly any pedestrians ever use them...with the exception of the occasional off-ramp-card-board-sign-holder.
also: it doesn't help that the cross signal lasts for about 3 seconds per cycles. i'm usually 1/2 way across with my loaded touring bike when the hands starts to flash.

i can't wait to NOT have a reason (for the most part) to go east of mt. tabor.

Easy Rider

12-22-2006, 11:11 AM

I agree with Ben and A.O. about taking the lane when appropriate, but it's impossible to tell from this video exactly what happened or who was actually at fault. We only see the moment of impact, we do not see the situation leading up to it. It's possible the cyclist carelessly darted out in front of the car, but it's also possible he HAD taken the lane and the driver of the car was too distracted by the traffic stop to see him. In any case it seems odd that it occured in the left traffic lane. This appears to be a wide county four lane out in the burbs somewhere. The cop is stopped in the parking strip. If it were me I probably would be riding a few feet from the curb and out of the traffic lane in this case because it appears that there's long stretches of this wide road with no parked cars. Well before the traffic stop I would signal and merge out into the middle of the RIGHT lane, passing a few feet to the left of the cop car, then moving back toward the curb out of traffic. Of course I could still be struck by a distracted motorist.
One thing IS clear from the video though - the cyclist was wearing nothing but dark clothing. A bright yellow jacket or jersey might have made all the difference. Love your safety yellow and be careful out there people!
Gordon

NEPcyclistic

12-22-2006, 02:00 PM

From what little we see from the video, it does appear the victim was riding in the middle, perhaps taking a lane of traffic. The police did ask if they saw the cyclist, the driver and passengers said, no. You can see the white strip of paint, the paint marking the two lanes of travel, he is laying next to it. Again as previously stated, we don't know whether he darted out in front of the car, or took up a lane. Either way, I believe that the motorist was rubbernecking, looking at the police instead of the road. Far to many accidents happen because of rubbernecking.

I actually saw this on cops a few months ago. It's sick, fucking horrible.

I hope he survived, i couldn't tell if he was wearing a helmet or not, before he got struck. In the video at the beginning a cyclist was going the opposite direction on the far side of the street. So i wonder if it's a well traveled road by cyclists.

jami

01-03-2007, 11:48 PM

that video made me feel like throwing up. i wish i hadn't watched it without knowing how things turned out for the cyclist. it's awful to think that so many people's (not just bikers'!) last few moments alive are spent face down in horrible pain on a highway because cars have taken over our country. except for the lack of a helmet, he reminds me of lots of bikers i know.

does anyone know if he's okay? i can't seem to get the answer out of google.

i wouldn't recommend for anyone with delicate sensibilities watch that, except that i don't have delicate sensibilities and i still wish i hadn't watched it.